Japanese scientists are now looking into creating human sperm and eggs in the lab. These cells could then be nurtured inside an artificial womb and grown into a viable fetus.
Lab-Grown Babies
According to MailOnline, Professor Katsuhiko Hayashi from Kyushu University has already discovered how to pull off such a feat among mouse models. He believes that humanity is only half a decade away from seeing the same results.
Professor Hayashi and his team created seven mice that originated from a pair of biologically male parents, Earth.com reports. They turned a male mouse's skin cells into a viable egg. This egg then underwent fertilization.
The procedure and technology behind this are in vitro gametogenesis (IVG). It takes a person's skin or blood cells and then modifies them into induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells. Theoretically, such cells could become any cell across the body, including sperm and egg.
The New York Post adds that the fertilization of the egg cells and implanting of the baby blueprint into that of female mice resulted in artificially conceived male mice. Though only seven of 630 embryos (1%) became live mouse babies, the researchers think that the experiment may have groundbreaking implications for the reproduction of humans.
Daina Laird, a stem cell and reproductive expert from the University of California who did not join the study, explains that the strategy is clever and vital in reproductive and stem cell biology.
The process could potentially be replicated in humans by infusing spawned embryos and pluripotent stem cells into a womb.
Such novel efforts were detailed in the Nature journal. Scientists could use this model to make basic human sperm and egg cells. However, they were not yet able to make any embryos. This means that this novel method of surrogacy is still in its infancy.
Dr. Hayashi thinks that the methods could work on humans after five years and that it would take around one to two decades to ensure the methods are safe to be applied in clinics.
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Safety and Ethical Concerns
Despite how mind-blowing the breakthrough may seem, especially for those battling infertility, it comes with pressing ethical issues. For one, this would mean a woman of any age could have a baby. This will raise questions regarding chronological, social, and biological norms.
It would also allow parents to modify their offspring through gene editing. This will give room for a designer baby or child that is assumed to be perfect. Issues about eugenics and legalities could also surface.
Another concern would be that people could be forced to have a child simply by using some skill cells or a hair strand.
The New York Post also mentions that another concern in technology is errors and mutations. These could be introduced into the culture dish before the stem cells are used for eggs.
The stem cell authority explains that they do not know if the method will be available for reproduction. However, when it comes to technology, it may be possible among humans in a decade.
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